Christchurch and District Model Flying Club

A thing of Beauty is a joy forever (until it crashes) by Brian Wiseman

Despite the cold weather I manage to get to Beaulieu for a fly most weeks. The last time there was a sport scale Mosquito there, a very nice Spitfire which unfortunately crashed. He was flying is well and had just done a very low pass followed by a roll gaining height to about l00 feet when it went into a spin and crashed. It looked to be repairable but it is always sad to see one come down. I always think of the time and effort expended in getting it to the flight line and we can get 150 flights or two and no one knows how many. It looked a sturdy craft so it was not smashed to bits. Which brings me to ARTFs. 

Most of my planes are either second hand or ARTFs and these are very flimsy. I fly a Hype 3 D which is a stunt plane and will do anything that I or anyone else is capable of. I can manage to get it into a flat spin but cannot really do a rolling circle it looks more like a rolling meander. Anyway I had some bad fuel and the engines kept stopping. It took some time for me to realise what the problem was because we tried the planes upside down and every way around on the ground but in the air the engine stopped sometimes after two minutes and sometimes on takeoff.

The Hype did that, The runway at Beaulieu has on one side gorse bushes, on the opposite side Heather the third side which is facing the flight line is grass. So we try not to put them in the bushes, although that is not too bad. The heather is probably the worst because it grabs the wheels and usually tears off the wings and bumps the nose. Anyway I got the Hype nearly back to the runway landed it short on some grass. It was rather a hard landing because I was trying to reach the runway so it came down with rather a bump and the front fell off. The firewall was attached to spars and not much else. Never mind it is all slathered in Epoxy and flying well again.

The Church which I attend meets in the Junior School in Milton and this year in July, it was decided to have a Fun Day. Bouncy Castles and the like. There was also a Craft exhibition and people were selling things. There were two Woodworking stalls, a very good Painter and several other stalls. I was asked to display some planes. So I took the Spitfire, the Hype which is not a pretty plane and the Swallow. They were tied up on the climbing frame on the School hall wall. I also had a stall on it was one of the Pico Helicopters and a fuselage with all the works for demonstration purposes. I dare not try flying the heli over the heads of the people. Of the planes the most graceful was the Swallow. Families came in: the women made a beeline to the ladies things and most of the dads and boys of all ages came to see the planes. Almost without exception they said they liked the Spitfire best. I can understand the men saying that but it was noticeable that the young boys all went for that one. The design certainly does have a touch of magic about it even after all those years. A thing of beauty indeed.

My Swallow also had a fuel inspired crash but all the planes are repaired now. My whole Air force is getting old and tatty, rather like their owner, but they fly, and at 100 feet who can see the Epoxy or the wrong colour covering.

Brian Wiseman. Jan 08

Brian’s Hype, Spitfire and Swallow, all in pristine condition.

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